a monster with a lion's body, a scorpion's tail, and a human head with three rows of teeth. It roamed the jungles of India and, like the Sphinx, would ask travellers a riddle and kill them when they failed to answer it
Word origin
C21: from Latin manticora, from Greek mantichōrās, corruption of martichorās, from Persian mardkhora man-eater
manticore in American English
(ˈmæntɪˌkɔr, -ˌkour)
noun
a legendary monster with a human head, horns, a lion's body, and the tail of a dragon or, sometimes, a scorpion
Word origin
[1300–50; ME ‹ L mantichōrās ‹ Gk, erroneous reading for marticho᷇ras ‹ Iranian; cf. Old Persian martiya- man, Avestan xvar- devour, Persian mardom-khar ‹ man-eating; prob. ult. alluding to the tiger, once common in the Caspian Sea region]
Examples of 'manticore' in a sentence
manticore
It could also be a minotaur, or a manticore, in which case, might it come this way?
Tepper, Sheri S. A PLAGUE OF ANGELS
They had seen a manticore and two trolls, though at a distance, and had been much troubled at the sightings.